Miracles in Audio, by luck, by good choices,by design or by tweaking...


I owned a low cost headphone for many years, the Fostex TH7B, first version( a new one close version exist Fostex TH7BK), semi-open headphone...I was never completely satisfied by any headphones I ever owned: Hifiman 400, Stax basic lamda, Stax 5 gold,Akg 340,Akg 701, beyerdynamic 990, and T150... Because in each of them with all their qualities I never listen to at the same times, a confortable headphone with natural timbre and voicing, with a good imaging and a realistic soundstage(not too close to my ears)...


For the last days I tweaked this Fostex, to damp his internal resonance I used sorbothane, I put some shungite stones at the exterior part of the cups and I use some Herkimer diamond in the interior pads( 3 at 120 degree) … Now this low cost headphones crush all my others if I sum all his qualities... For example his mids and voicing cannot beat the AKG 340 but among all my other headphones it is the best that is near that mids and it is more confortable, and with longer cable than the 340...His imaging is better and more realistic than the 340 etc etc...It is the same if I compare with the others...


His most important qualities is natural timbre and clear imaging,very precise pinned point accuracy and natural, so clear it crush for that ALL the others to dust...In the French audio circle the reviews were more than very positive few years ago...Diapason d’or and choc Classica...I am not the only one impressed buy the ratio quality/price... But remember that thesae reviewers dont tweak their headphone...The difference between before and after the tweaks are staggering...


Yes Miracles happens in Audio: cost is under 100 American dollars... Few years ago they cost me 50 bucks new... I never dreamed that I will go back to headphones...


I will enjoy your miracles stories of any kind ….My best to all...
128x128mahgister
Imagination and small money are the essence of innovation...
A nice mate sounds good today!
Update about Alaskan 3/8 inches cones:
 golden one are nickel, black one are copper....


I just add 2 on each exterior side of the speakers where there is already 2 on each front side of the speakers...

I now have added 34 cones in the room... some with Herkimer Diamond inside for adjusting bass response...

It seems that all is going for increased improvement....

more to comes I had 11 others cones to place....

:)


Update:

I now have successfully place 39 copper Alaskan cones 3/8 inch...

The sound in near listening at 3 feet of my speakers is more 3-d layered than ever...

At regular listening position on my seat at almost 8 feet from the speakers that are on my desk with 5 feet between the center of each other, the room is totally full of the sound with no more relation to the speakers at all, even if the position of the speakers is not symmetrical in relation with the wall...
One of my speakers has two of his side inserted a few inches against the wall...I succeed annihilating mainly the distortion of the soundstage....

For 30 bucks these 45 brass Alaskan cones were one of my most precious and powerful tools to modify the acoustical field of my room...I stole the idea from a tweaks company that sell something resembling that 7 for 400 bucks ( I forgot the company name)...Imagine if I had bought them instead of replicating them.... I dont think that acoustic sound waves act better because they are more costly.... :) Some customers of this comnpany even says beware to not use too much of them because of sound degradation.... It seems my cheap cones ignore sound degradation they are more light and I can increase the S.Q. by balancing them with some Herkimer nano diamonds...Inside each  there is a hole that I fill with copper tape....

:)


Tomorrow or in a few days I will put the 4 last one behind me...And two others will be added to the 2 already glued on my computer screens between the speakers....

To be continued...………...


For all those who read this thread my hope are the best for all.... music is a great help in confinement....Stay well and be cautious in these perilous times....
Update:


I had put 41 Alaskans brass cones... 4 left to be use...The last 2 were put on my computer screen between speakers ( I now have 4 at the 4 corners)...


Organ dont lie!

With Helmuth Walcha Bach interpretation, never listened to with this wave of tonal details in a more precise imaging and a more vast soundstage I go upper into heaven than the day before...


Without asking the permission of my wife for this stupendous cash investment in audio, I bought another set of 15...

At the end I will put 60 cones in my room...40 $ all in all....


The next ignorant that call anything "snake oil" will be put to death by me... Because this " ignorabimus" will spread for the X’th times the tale that these speakers, or this dac, or this amplifier, are so good out of the box that is all we need to know nothing else....Marketing ploy are the real snake oil, because selling products without explaining how to embed them is near fraud... But I must be less harsh, because these engineers and vendors dont know themselves most of the times what to do....Read any audio magazine, they dont explain simply the problem....90% of people dont have a clue about the real S.Q. of their actual system because they are even not  rightfully embed at all in the mechanical, electrical, and acoustical fields, ......

Why people bought anything without experimenting first with low cost materials is out of me.... But if I remember I was like that myself most part of my audio life. Nobody ever insist on the importance of this, they speak mostly and exclusively about the quality of their favorite electronical components.    :)

I understand only now (the last 2 years), and I should say like said Christ in his last audio meeting: " Forgive them, they dont know what they do"


:)


The world I has known ended in my conscious experience the 12 March 2020, but finally I will at least listen music like I never heard before dying....


to be continued
A new tool for acoustical field of my room:


The " Bell of bells"...

I just create it ...

I use a brass little bell that I attach and hang to a rope in the center of my room...

Around this bell I glued 16 little bells (Alaskan brass cones3/8 inch) with half of them with an Herkimer micro diamond glued in them...It is very important to balance half the cones with diamond (half of them)…This balancing compensate the bass frequencies and high frequencies with one another...The result is a better tone accuracy....


This device makes my ears spirals( by some internal Fourier analysis by the brain) able to decode from the feedback waves and reconstruct more easily, in spite of the room intricacies, an optimal tone and imaging ....I am not a scientist tough, I just want to transmit my impressions and communicate my own understanding....


The results (for 10 bucks) are ASTOUNDING....


More accuracy for tone and better imaging...


All my solutions cost nothing or are chap and very effective....This one takes the cake....

My goal is top Hi-Fi for the poor....Trust me it is possible.... If you are newcomers, try, experiment, and step by step, create your own heaven with the only master there is: your ears....No money needed....No upgrade advice here.... Start with what you already owned if this is good basic gear....

An amplifier that was top of the world gear in 1978 is even today a good amplifier, mine is.... Same thing for the speakers.... My only contemporary electronic component is a dac…. A very good one (Starting Point Systems Nos tda 1543) I will never upgrade it because of his minimalistic design and cost....


Remember that I can hear very subtle changes in my audio room because all my embeddings (mechanical, electrical and acoustical) are already very controlled...Go with yours step by steps....


I will post a photo in the next days in my "virtual system" section....

My best to you....